We walked thru Connecticut. I can’t think of a witty comment about Connecticut.

I think this sign is technically in the wrong place on the trail, but hey, at least this one had a marker!

Almost immediately after crossing into Connecticut, we noticed a subtle difference in the trail and its surroundings. For one thing, it was quieter–no road noise! We felt like we were in the wilderness again. We also dropped down to the Housatonic River and spent a couple days walking along it–which I believe is the longest river walk on the trail. It was nice to see something other than . . . you guessed it: rocks and trees, trees and rocks. Plus being near the river also meant nice flat terrain and breezes. It was a nice change from New York’s slippery rock scrambles.

See? Quaint!

The very first town we came to after crossing over into Connecticut is a vacation town named Kent. It’s a really quaint town–old houses, little boutique shops, and suburban chic restaurants. Everything was all “Ye Olde [insert shoppe type here] Shoppe” and southern barbecue served with cloth napkins, wine and asparagus. Oh, and it has its own website. Kent is also home to the Cooper Creek Bed and Breakfast, where we stayed for two nights as we slack packed the majority of Connecticut. The prices listed are their “regular visitor” rate, and we all know hikers are hardly regular (in any sense of the word), so if you hike in ask for their hiker rate.

This hot dog stand was in Cornwall (between Kent and Salisbury) and served us a messy (and tasty) lunch. It's outside a beer/wine shop--free drink if you sign their register!

The folks at Cooper Creek were incredibly helpful and super nice! As we mentioned, they helped us slack pack from just south of Kent north through Falls Village, which covers a good deal of the 52 miles of AT in the state. We stayed two nights and were the only guests at the time, so we enjoyed their company as we went out to dinner together and talked shoppe (Survivorman is dead set on owning a B&B or hostel near the trail one day).

North of Falls Village, we hiked on toward Salisbury, which we mentioned in an earlier post. Just north of Salisbury is Lion’s Head, which is a tough climb on a full stomach compared to what we have been doing, but it gave us a stunning view of the area once we got to the top.

Muggle hiking the edge of Lion's Head

Survivorman showing off. He's not afraid of heights.

All in all, Connecticut was a great segway into New England. It set our expectations for terrain, scenery, and town prices going forward. Fifty-two miles of the Appalachian Trail isn’t a lot, so we quickly cruised on into Massachusetts.

We are actually in Maine! But we took a free day in town up here and wrote a bunch of blogs about the places we’ve been for our friends back home. We scheduled them to post while we are walking. Katahdin or bust baby!